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Thanks for all the replies! It does seem that there aren't any low cost carriers with cheap flights across borders. All the super cheap flights tend to stay within a single country. Which means the location and convenience is a more important factor, and Columbia does look like an ideal one on that front.

I think a big part of this depends on how much you intend to enjoy your base city.

IMO Bogotá blows Panamá City out of the water, no competition. You may not like chilly weather though...or either grey skies or super-intense UV rays shooting down on you at 8000+ ft altitude. Bogota´s weather and Avianca´s general service and dependability compared to Panamá and Copa Airlines may be something else to think about. I always fly with Copa whenever possible, and in the...easily 20 times I´ve flown through Panamá, I´ve never had any sort of delay coming or going. If you intend to fly often out of your base city, sooner or later Bogotá is going to be a headache.

And yes, it might be more expensive than you realize. It´s often cheaper to fly out of Miami to places in Latin America than it is from Bogotá or even Panamá, not sure why this is.

Thanks guys. This is just for curiosity and perhaps early research (would not consider basing in SA until many years from now) but I am thinking it would make more sense to explore SA a lot while we are based in Miami lol. Flights seem more or less the same price, just longer travel times. On the positive side we are comfortable, have a home, and enjoy living in Miami!

It might be due to greater competition from Miami than from Bogota or Panama.

And no doubt those flights from MIA probably stay full

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